Happy Birthday Singapore!!

This was how the table in our apartment loooks like after we went grocery shopping yesterday. Enough to feed an army, I think.

After the lesson learnt on the previous trip to Beijing University of Technology, Jason, Dollah and I left early, as we took the shuttle bus to the venue. It's Jason's first attempt at writing sports and he did his own standupper. Chris and Prem had gone to the shooting venue with the driver early in the morning. Lee Wung Yew will be in action. I hope he gets good results in his third Olympics.

Both Jason and I wore red because of National Day, as we check with each other on the bus. I were to include the MCK watching Xing Aiying into my packaged, as part of the deal with McDonalds. Reaching there, I started calling Linda, the contact person for the MCK. With such a short time given, we managed to film the kids talking to Jason, and them walking into the hall to watch Xing Aiying play. Before Xing Aiying goes into action, I began to talk to Jason about Lin Dan, Tafik Hidayat, Lee Chong Wei.

Soon Xing Aiying took her place in court, playing Belarus' Konon Olga. It was a match that she was expected to win in this Round of 64 encounter. We MCK were cheering for her at the stands as we watched the procedding. So was Team Singapore. But our cheers were drowned by the Malaysians who were rooting for Lee Chong Wei. A look at the draw and I shook my head. Ronald Susilo will be playing against Chongwei, if he get through Round of 64. As Aiying wasn't feeling well, she bowed out of the competition 19-21, 12-21.

During the post interview, which Jason conducted in English. I could see that she was struggling with conversing in English. She was trying very hard to bring across the message to us that she felt bad at being knocked out this early, but today wasn't her day and she had really did her best. I figured I had better conduct post interviews in Mandarin as some of our athletes really have problem with speaking English. Her coach said Xing was too anxious in wanting to kill the game too early, leading to unforced errors. Jason's opening link was slightly too long and he spoke about how tough Aiying was. But I guessed it's alright as this link is before the match. Nonetheless, let's hope we will get better news from Wang Yew. I really hope I'm not the jinx to Team Singapore.

Back at the IBC, Prem and Chris had failed to get any soundbite from Shooting. Huh? How come? They went there too late, and Wang Yew has already gone back to the Olympic Village. But Wang Yew showed some fine form to finish 17th in a field of 35. His scores of 23, 24 and 22 earned him a total of 69 as the stiff competition enters Day 2 (Aug 10).

I started editing my Badminton packaged with the MCK while Prem and Chris got ready to go to the Water Cube. Tao Li will compete in the heats of the women's 100m butterfly while Ting Wen lines up for the women's 400m individual medley heats. With world class swimmers improving so much in the past year, they have their work cut out. Asian Games gold medallist Tao Li stands a chance of entering the semi-finals at least while Ting Wen will be mainly aiming for a personal best.

Dollah went for a walk at the Olympic Park and he watched the cultural performances there. He said the Adidas store that we all been watching for the past few days is not selling anything. It's strictly for exhibition only as it tells the story of how Adidas has been involved in the Olympics throughout the years.

At the Water Cube, Tao Li created a stir when she clocked 57.77 secs to win her heat, and is the fourth fastest qualifier to enter the 100m butterfly semi finals. Significantly, Tao Li broke her previous national record of 58.96 secs by a wide margin and finished ahead of many world class swimmers. Quah Ting Wen also did well, clocking 4:51.25 in the heats of the women's 400m IM. Her time was not only a PB but a new national mark. The old Singapore record of 4:51.87 was set by Joscelin Yeo in 1999.


When Prem and Chris came back, they didn't have any soundbite from any of the swimmers nor Ang Peng Siong. They couldn't even get into the venue. Swiming was graded as a high demand event and we had to pay US$500 for a ENG spot in the venue. Prem tried calling Peng Siong to arrange for a short interview. But nothing could be done by the time we had to send our feed. So, only the Badminton cum MCK story went out.

Opening Ceremony & Cage

I almost couldn’t get out of bed. I was feeling so tired, and the Games hasn't started officially yet! I asked Chris if I can don’t go today. His reply was simple, "You think leh?" I was wondering what to wear this morning. Not that I have a lot to choose from, but at least, I want to appear bright and cheery on the photo on the day of the Opening Ceremony. Red is reserved for tomorrow as it's the National Day, so I went for Commonwealth Games' top I bought in Melbourne. From one Games to another.


We make our way to the IBC, the feed last night has been changed to this morning. Prem wanted to go Great Wall after we pump out IBC story, Jason’s opening link and the sailing story. We could use the footage film at Great Wall as part of the Sight & Sound Story.


Called Yvonne minutes just before our feed will got through on multi 8. She put me on loud speaker, and everyone in the studio could hear me. Victor said I sounded very happy. Sigh, what can I say? Just make the best of everything. Though I was more like a translator here, I'm determined to make my time here as memorable as possible. After sending back the stories, we make our way to the Ba Da Ling Great Wall. I had wanted to go to another part of the Great Wall, but the entrance was blocked. So get to visit Badaling for the second time.


Upon reaching there, the whole place a dead town. After talking to some of the locals, we realised that the Government has declared three public holidays for the nation just for the opening ceremony. The entire Great Wall is closed until Cycling is over. No wonder we saw OB vans and equipment setup along the way up. Cycling on this route is a totally different experience geographically for the athletes and visually for the viewers back home. How often do we get to cycle along the Great Wall?


Jason went to the toilet at the entrance (difficult to even find a usable toilet) and came back with these pictures. Something which I have seen it years ago. Though I believed it was only recently that it has been practiced. Translated, it says "Take a small step forward, and you take a great step forward to being civilised". (向前一小步,文明一大步)

Since it's already near to lunch time, we asked Ma Shifu to take us to restaurant for lunch. He took us to the hotpot place where we went the last time, but was closed. We are to have Shuan Yang Rou for lunch. Hmm... very heaty food. Hope I won't fall sick after eating.



Once again, Prem and Jason are having a good laugh about the menu. There is one that says "Stewing Cattles on a soft neck tendons". My favourite is Tofu Portfolio. You mean Tofu is looking for a job? Other examples include "Stewing Pipes", "Cow Crack", "Fat Cow" and the one that I couldn't even read "Dichotomanthes agate". Whatever is that?? But the classic one is the one that says "Sheep Meat on the Brain". The translated explanation at the entrance of the restuarant also brought heaps of laughter to our table. Jason took shots of it to bring it home, just to let others have a good laugh. Even Dollah was laughing at the way they explain how the sheep is being slaughtered and stuff.


We ordered food like goat's marrow, stomach and innards that I do not eat. There is diffferent sauce for us to choose to dip the cooked food. We asked for two servings of all the different types of sauce there. In the end, the table was too small for all the food we have ordered. The hot and spicy soup was meant for the rest while I alone, enjoyed the herbal soup. Ma Shifu scooped all the cooked food up for us and I had no choice but to swallow the marrow and the stomach lining. Yucks! Though it has no much of a taste, the yucky feeling is more psychological than real.

After the heavy meal, we make our way Back to IBC. Chris sat along the corridor with the Thais and chat with them about their pins collection. We realised that exchanging pins at the Olympics is a serious business. They are actually people who go wherever the Games is, and setup their corners outside the IBC and Athletes Village to exchange their pains.


We waited the whole afternoon for John Burton to issue us the tickets to the Opening Ceremony. With two armbands and five tickets for the entire MediaCorp. Two from CNA get to go to the Opening Ceremony. Chris chose to let Dollah go for the opening ceremony, as he doesn't want to stand at the ENG position to watch. He wanted to sit and watch, to enjoy. With the spare armband and no ticket for Raj, he had to be Dollah's CA in order for hin to get into the Bird Nest. With the ticket in hand, Jason said he needs to guard the ticket with his life.

Ma Shifu took us grocery shopping. Chris said after last night, it's time for him to stock up some instant food in the Media Village. This is the first time doing this with a guy who is not related to me. I began to envy Glyn. Why doesn’t he do such things with me? We could have so munch fun. The need for me to be domesticated is getting stronger. We pushed the trolley around, and bought a carton of drinks for our neighbours in the IBC. Chris said they have been opening the fridge there even though they know that there is nothing inside. Since Singapore is the richest country among all, we should buy something for everyone.


Real durians were sold in the supermarket. Durians that don't stink. I could actually get near it to take a picture of Chris holding the durian. There were tiny water-melons there that I posed with, and the five-grain rice that I played with. We bought seaweed soup, century egg instant porridge, chips and different flavours of beer. With the shops closed, we could not do our shopping on the second floor.


With all the shops closed at 5pm, we decided to drop our stuff at the Media Village, send our laundry before going out for dinner. Chris wanted to chill and drink beer. As the Chinese government had declared a three-day public holiday for the people leading to the Opening Ceremony, those who were fortunate enough to get tickets and passes to the highly anticipated event had to make their way to the Bird Nest as early as 5pm. All shopping complex closed early as the locals all wanted to get home and spend this historical moment with their families.

Requesting the driver to bring us to a location where we could chill and watch the Opening on the telly, he brought us to the district where all the embassies are location. There was a row of cafes and pubs, and just around the corner we saw The Cage. Walking towards it, we realised Adidas was having an exhibition, having set up a cage for the public to test their skills at penalty kicks. At the other end, there was a partial track laid down for us to test our taking off. Those who go below 0.5sec for their taking off gets a free pin, which we redeemed at the Adidas store.

A big screen was setup for those who wanted to watch the Opening Ceremony. The square was filled with people who wanted to share this special moment with others. Some brought food and drinks, and were prepared to stay till the wee hours of the night. We went shopping in Adidas instead. In the four-storey Adidas, I finally bought the pair of shoes I wanted for so long, and a cap. Bought a Liverpool top for brother. To make up his lack of presents from Korat.

Adidas has an exhibition at the shopping arcade. Tried taking off at the track. Couldn’t make it below 0.5 seconds. The lady kept asking me to try and she thought Chris was my husband. Hahaha. Guess we are both fat. I signed my credit card for God knows how much. We then made our way into the arcade and we saw other shops like Puma and Nike. Chris went into Nike and fall in love with the Taekwondo top. I bought more presents to bring home, thinking that once the Games start, there will not be time for me to go shopping.

After that, we walked along the pubs that had TV for us to watch the Opening Ceremony. We soon gave up the idea of watching it outside as the pubs with TV were all so packed. In the end, we ate buffet at a pizza place. With the bosses not around, and only three customers to serve, the staff started their own party. The beer was free-flow, and seems like it was more for them than us. Chris rated the place a three before we left.

After being pontong jalan twice, we finally got a cab to bring us back to the Media Village. By the time we reached our apartment, it was the athletes marching in and we patiently waited for Team Singapore to enter. Towards the end of the ceremony, we heard the fireworks and I wondered out loud if we could see the fireworks. After a split second, the two of us ran outside and asked the volunteer is there anywhere that we can see the fireworks. He said west gate. We ran there, and managed to catch a glimpse of the fireworks together with some of the volunteers.

IBC Story and the MCKs

I woke up early and decided to go for a swim. My shoulders were tensed and I can feel the muscles in my body all tensed up. Last night's editing was a nightmare. Jusri kept asking me why am I doing the editor's job. How to answer him?

On the way to IBC, I asked Dollah not to tell Jusri that I swam in the morning. Went IBC together. Left for Badminton with Dollah. Didn’t realised that it will take us an hour to reach the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium. Called the badminton team manager to ask her to try and wait for me. Ran into the venue once we reached. But Team Singapore's training session is over. Had to ask the Team Manager to bring them out to the exit and entrance of the athletes to conduct the interview. After talking to Ronald Susilo and Xing Aiying, we took on the one hour journey back. Two hours on the road, but only ten minutes to do the work.

Prem called if I took his handphone charger. I said no. In the end, he had to stand at these kiosks where you put in your handphone batteries to charge. Hahaha. But I realised that I had actually took his charger by mistake and there are two chargers in my bag. So I quietly placed his charger back into the drawer while everyone was out, and later tell him that his charger has been in the drawer all along. Back at the IBC, Prem about to explode at the editor. Chris trying hard to help.

I went over to MPC and realised to access the Internet, I need to pay. God! Raj paid S$900 for his internet connection in the MPC. Good lord! Alvin got part of the truth. Yes, the whole place is wifi, but you have to pay for it!

Went back to IBC, I continue to edit the IBC story, after which I took over the editing of the sailing story. Prem and Chris has already left to pick up Jason from the airport. Took two hours to finish Sailing Look Ahead story. Editor went for dinner and I inserted some shots myself for the IBC story. It was a nightmare! At the end of the day, Prem nicknamed me Wendy Jr. Hahaha!

Chris came back with the MCK footages and I struggled to finish up this story. He had followed the girls from the security check-point to the distribution centre in the IBC until he came back with the footages. He had camera edit his shots for me, and this time, it was easier to edit. Basically, just follow the sequence of his shots. This edit was quite painless, and Chris started to share his thoughts on each of the girls. He commented that he was glad that he doesn't have a younger sister, at the girls' age. If not, he will die.

Although these girls are friends now, one can't help but sense that there is competition between them. Prem send the kids back to their hotel with the driver, and to what I expected, he started calling me, to convey messages to the driver from where he wants to go. I had become the translator between him and the driver. Then they picked up Jason as he has to do his opening link for the opening ceremony.

Waiting for a long time for them to come back. Immediately started editing once they came back. Prem asked if my hair turned grey or had I already pulled them out. I started conversing in hokkien with Chris. Frustrated and stressed at the same time at the editor. Eventually took over the editing of the opening link as the deadline loomed. If not for Chris, I think I would have gone crazy already. At times, I don't know if the Singaporeans are the stupid ones, or are the Chinese idiots!

We went back to the Media Village without dinner. Everyone was tired, and though we tried to da bao food at the canteen in the Media Village, seems like none of them is open for 24hr. Hmmm... Then why did the guidebook says so? So we went back to our apartments, and Chris cooked Maggi instant porridge for me. This is the first time a guy cooked for me. Sigh. Why doesn’t he do that? We chatted over his second helping and maggi noodles and my porridge and even more, till 2am.

Torch Relay and Funny Menu

Waking up at the sound of the alarm, I realised my both legs had no feeling! Must be the climb up and down the Bird's Nest in addition to the 4km treadmill run. God! Chris and Prem took a cab to the airport. They are flying out to Qingdao to do the sailing story today.

Dollah and I took the van and went straight to the north-west corner of the Tienanmen Square. A huge crowd has already gathered along the road. The traffic police and the volunteers had a tough time at controlling the excited public. Dollah had to climb on top of a flower pot to get a vantage shot. After three Olympics, the journey of the Olympic torch has never failed to amaze me. Today, we managed to catch up and follow a part of the torch relay.

The media has picked their spots. Some were ready to just run along side. With our accreditation pass, we slowly make our way to the middle of a junction. It was tough, trying to get the message across to the traffic police. Finally, somebody from BOB gave them the thumbs-up for allowing us in. I could feel the glare of the public. How many can live to tell the tale that they get to stand in the middle of the junction at Tienanmen Square?Even the police themselves were taking photo. To them, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance for them to see the Olympic Torch Relay.

When the big moment arrived, the crowd cheered the runners on and just outside the Tienanmen Square, Zhang Yi Mou took over as the torch bearer for a moment. And there is our moment with the famous film director. But just as I turned my head, I realised Dollah was separated from Dollah. He ran with the torch relay until the officials blocked him, and I could not catch up. Walking towards where the torch relay had went, I still could not see him anyway.

Carrying the tripod, I walked back to the point where we started, where Dollah had climbed onto a flower pot, I tried calling him to no avail. Making a decision there and then, I crossed the HUGE road and got back to where the driver had left us. Taking out my phone, I realized I got four missed calls from Dollah. Calling back, I finally get to him and asked him to come back to where the driver first dropped us. Then we asked the driver to take us to the Hutong, where the commoners stayed. Taking shots for the colour story, old and new Beijing.

Dollah left me alone to handle the stuff. He went to the cafeteria upstairs for lunch. Dominic was already at the IBC when we reached, and Alvin wants me to attend briefing and press conference of Zhang Yimou, and to get a one-on-one interview with the renowned director. Err... A bit out of the question. I just need to get into the press conf. So many things to settle, only I one person.

I tried editing part of the Sights and Sound story with the CTO around, asking me why Mediacorp only has such a small booth. He phrased the question in three ways, but each time got the same answer from me. It's real that MediaCorp didn't want to pay for a bigger booth. He has been living at the bottom of a well for too long.

I couldn't get into the Press Conf by myself. MediaCorp isn't in the list. I could only get in with John Burton. I ended up getting nothing from the Press Conf - material required by Studio about the Opening Ceremony - and had to rely on Jusri on getting a photocopied lineup from Surasak as the Thais had the Press Release folder. And the CTO kept asking me why MediaCorp couldn't get in without John Barton! God! HELP!!

Editing the first half of the IBC story was a disaster. Shot by shot, duration by duration. This is the first time in my life that I had to tell editor how much duration I want for each shot. God! Is this a signs of the nightmares to follow in the days to come? Do I have to become producer cum editor here? God!

Dinner, however, provided me and the rest, the best way to destress. We had fun taking pictures of the menu, laughing at the English translation. One of my favourite was "The Wild Mushroom Cooks the Stupid Chicken". Here's what Jason wrote in his blog.

"Ok - we've been eating out here from time to time - and the menu is just awesome! You can't find these dishes anywhere else...

I think this one has family photos in it, or is it ABOUT a "family photo pot" (a pot for photos I guess) that leaves home, or is it...?


I don't know... Either this one is a dish with a yellow fish CALLED "Burns" or the cook is admitting to burning this dish every time.






"German Morley" is my favourite chef - he cooks the live fish really well !!







I think this one is a question: "Does the pot rip the chicken?" ... fair enough... well does it?

And this is when vegetables get their revenge on meat...

Opening Ceremony - Rehearsal

My first night in Beijing and I had to rely on muscle relaxant to sleep. Probably due to the new bed. To prevent this from happening again tonight, I woke up early to go to the gym. I hope I didn't disturb Chris' sleep with all the banging of the doors. Good thing I went to the gym early. First on the treadmill, and a couple of minutes later, there were people coming in, eyeing on the treadmill. My initial thought was just to complete a 2.4km. In the end, I ran 4km in the hope that I will hit the 10km mark soon.

After collecting equipment last night, we decided to test the camera this morning so that we can check the editing decks as well. Chris went down to take some shots from the Media Village, where there's a temple, which is actually selling Olympic merchandise. The buses that went around the village is ran on batteries. Later, Dollah, Chris and I went to the IBC on the shuttle service provided. Coming through the security, I forgot my handphones and room keys. God bless the volunteer who returned them to me. I still have not got into the rhythm of things yet. Need a better plan for tomorrow.

The CNA people came into IBC today with their equipment, in their Team Singapore tshirts. There were five of them. I already hated the sight of Dominic, though the other guys seem quite nice. They tried to take over our corner in the common pool, and they didn't even pay for the space. After some negotiation between Chris, Prem and Dominic, they agreed to use the chest of drawers as their table top, and in return, we get to use their internet connection.

We went out to do the IBC story, and I get to explore the MPC as well. There are courier service, post office, bank, tour agency, bookstore and a information counter that gives out plenty of books and information booklets for free! I took quite a few of the free books, knowing that Dad will be interested in reading them. I hope I can get some free time to browse the bookshops in town to get a birthday present for Dad. At the basement, there is a McDonalds! Could be the source of our meals in the days to come. There is also a gym and a hair salon in the MPC. Kiok was right! This is better than Doha, except that we have to pay for the bottled water. Then again, this is China, NOT a rich Arabic country. Language is no problem for me here.

Reached the IBC and went out with Dollah to take some shots for the IBC story. Turned out I couldn't use the footage and have to reshoot as Studio 1 is transmitting in 16:9, but we shot on 4:3. Oh well, here we go again. This time, Chris did the filming while Dollah became his CA. The most "no budget" CA, according to Chris. Reason being, Dollah's camera has technical faults and needed to be replaced. .

Soon all the nitty gritty problems of the camera and equipment hit us. Audio cables, cam lights and we had to get them to change the mikes for us as they gave us boom while we needed hand mikes. I started making calls to Kiok. Jason might have to bring in two handheld mikes and a lip mike. We realised we don't have a lip mike for voice-over. At the end of the day, nothing much was done. Prem decided to take some establishing shots and crowd shots for Jason's cross. It so happened that ABU had two stickers left for us to go to the Opening Ceremony's rehearsal. Chris chose to pass and I went with Dollah to the rehearsal.

Our tiny corner in the common area was in the dungeons. There were these weird structures outside, along the pathway that leads to the toilets. Everytime I walked pass these structures, it seems that I am going walking through some huge construction site. So far, we were the only ones in the common area. But the tags for other TV channels/stations are already there to indicate that other corners have been booked. I'm looking forward to meeting our neighbours, the Indonesians, the Mongolians and the Thais.

Before we went out for lunch, the volunteers were all seated at the canteen where they have their meals. There was an event going on for them. After checking with the BOB people (Beijing Olympic Broadcaster), we realised they were rewarding the volunteers for their hard work, and more hard work in the days to come. They are having a lucky draw, and winners get tickets to the Opening Ceremony! Whow! Can I be included? From there, we found out, even the chefs are students. Dollah said, maybe from Shatec

We had a late lunch and we were talking about how the editor and the driver would think that Singaporeans are a weird bunch of people. They eat their meals at the queerest timing, when restaurants are either taking a break before they open for dinner, and they have dinner when the locals have served the last of those eating suppers. The first place that Ma Shifu took us were closed for a break, so we went to another restuarant further down the road. Chris ordered this deep fried sweet potato thingy that I ended up liking it so much.

After lunch, Dollah and I made our way to the Bird Nest. Walking pass the Beijing mobile toilets. I couldn't help but want to take a photo of it. I never thought I would see this here, and the public are actually lining up to use it! The Chinese never believe in queueing up ten years ago when I was here! It's amazing at how much they have changed in seven years! There are hordes of volunteers lining along the roads that led to the Bird Nest, yelling instructions into loudhailers. I have never seen so many people in my life!

The performers were slowly making their way in too. I stared in awe as they walked past me, in an orderly manner. Whow! How to get so many people to be in order? I have never seen so many people as performers in my life. Perhaps, this won't be the last time I will be saying "I have never seen so many people in my life!" Dollah said I would stand out against the performers wearing luminous green. We spent ten minutes trying to get this shot right.

We climbed five storeys before we were told that the Media are not allowed to be in the spectator area. So where were the Media supposed to be at?? Dollah said he's an old man already, why make him climb up and down the stairs? All he wanted was to get a seat, together with the commoners. Err.. that's a bit tough as all the tickets have seats allocated to them. Finally, after being directed from third to fourth and back to third floor again, we met someone who directed us to the Media area at Section 113. We had a tough time choosing the seats we wanted. First, we have to avoid the hundreds of lights as we don't want to end up like sitting in the suana. At last, we found the fengshui seats and started taking photo. But a volunteer was there to stop us from taking more. This rehearsal is embargo until the real thing.

My favourite was the opening event where hundreds of drums were lined up in the stadium, and the lighting on the drums that appeared each time the drummers hit the drum. It's amazing how they are so well coordinated. Not a single person out. Another was the transitions between performances. It was seamless on TV. Whow! But the TV shots were another category by itself. Instead of more long shots and wide shots, the TV director focused too much on closeups and much of the formations were missed on TV.

Along the way back, I was once again, left in awe at the colours that changes on the Water Cube. No one would believe it's actually their National Aquatic Centre. It was such a pretty sight and each time the colour changes, I would stop to take a photo. It took Dollah and I, an hour to walk from the Bird Nest to the shuttle service area where we took the bus back to the Media Village. I thought I would not have problem falling asleep tonight after this long walk. I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open this night.

Chris said he could hear me this morning, and had to resist from opening the door to scold me. Sorry! Can't do it tomorrow, as we all have to leave early tomorrow. Dollah and I will be covering the leg of the Torch Relay at Tian'anmen Square. Whow! Have always been amazed by it and now I'm seeing it for real!

Finally...Beijing...

After the long anticipation and waiting, the day finally arrived. Woke up at 4.45am and left the house at 5.30am, then both Mum and Dad sent me downstairs where Uncle Patrick was waiting for me. Glyn and Chris were the first to reach the airport. Then came Prem. Jusri had already text me, saying that he will be late for 30mins. I called Dollah and he was still at home, but he told me he would reached in 10 minutes, and true to his words, he really reached in 10 minutes! Whow! That's near!

After checking-in our luggage, Chris, Glyn and I ate our breakfast at Kopitiam. We finally check-in at 7.30am. Strolling inside Terminal 3, we went to Fifa shop, and I bought two notebooks while Chris was in the toilet. Couldn't find where he was, I went straight to be boarding gate and there was a long queue for us to clear our hand luggage. Suddenly, I realised the Canadian swimming team as well as the US swimmers were on the same flight with us. Tried in vain to find Michael Phelps.

Jusri sat alone in the upper deck while we were in the lower deck. I watched Kungfu Panda and The Other Boylene Girl. I couldn't finish the second movie, was near the end, I hoped I can finish the show during the return flight. Dessert for lunch was a cornetto ice-cream. There goes my diet. The CTO kept talking to Prem, and then Prem pretended to be sleeping, and he really slept for real later. Dollah and I could hear his snores! Hahaha. To think he told me he wanted to watch a movie while on the plane. Hahahaha.

Its amazing how something as big as the A380 can fly. We stood outside the boarding gate for quite some time before we proceed to collect our luggage, still amazed by how the A380 can fly. I started to adapt to reading Chinese words as we walked, reading the advertisements and instructions, that were all in Chinese character. Everybody was rushing to checkout, and I thought to myself, there should be an express lane for the Olympic people.

Hunting for the express Olympic lane carefully, I located the special Olympic counter and had our accreditation passes validated there, saving us the time to queue with the others. We had to take LRT to another place to collect our luggage. On board the LRT, Chris was surprised to see Ge Minghui on board. We pretended to be taking photo of Prem and Dollah, but was in fact, taking photo of Ge Minghui. Our first and many stars to come in the days that follow.

The athletes who were on the same flight with us were well taken care of. Their team managers passed bottled water around for them while waiting for our luggage. Did Team Singapore has such treatment? After collecting our luggage, we called the driver and the editor. It took a long time before they finally found us. But we ended up going round and round the airport waiting for the CNA crew. Chris keep saying he wants to talk to the CTO, explaining that having a chat with the CTO could be his big break.

Finally arriving at the Media Village, the journey was smooth and uneventful, thanks to the Olympic lane, we check-in to our rooms and rested at apartment. I had a shower, and we took a walk around the Media Village. We recced the place and found out where the gym and pool was. Maybe I could go for a swim tomorrow morning. Having skipped his lunch on the plane, Chris and I had our dinner at Restaurant 1. Two dishes and two portions of rice, and it cost us RMB 100. Whow! That's too steep! We have to find somewhere cheaper. Met Dollah while we walked back to our apartments. Spoke to the driver over the phone, and we were to meet them at IBC while they collect equipment.

Language was the main problem between us. It takes us a couple of time before our message could be get across. The driver couldn't park his car in the IBC, so we had to be coolie - me, chris, dollah and the editor shifted the equipment and setup the editor “suite”. Prem was nowhere to be found. Jusri checked the equipment and realised we had two boom mikes instead of handheld, and there was no lip mike on the equipment list. We requested for the boom mikes to be changed, and we borrowed a lip mic from RTM, the spare Chartered brought for them.

As Dollah and Prem haven't had their dinner, we requested the driver (Ma Shifu) to bring us to some halal restaurant for food. He kept saying he would bring us to a Qing Zhen place to eat, but Chris said not Qing Zheng (steamed). As long as there is no pork, we can go. In the end, I said just let him bring us, if it's not right, we can always go to another place.

Ma Shifu brought us to a restaurant selling Xin Jiang food. It's already 11.30pm! There are Arabic scriptures spread throughout the place. On the menu, we realised that they actually served a whole goat roasted. Whow! We placed our orders and watched the workers moved a fridge downstairs. And we realised Qing Zhen (清真), is the Chinese termed for Halal. Not steamed (清蒸), as Chris thought it was. It's recce venues time tomorrow. Hope the weather will be good. Chris paid for this meal. We said we would leave the Peking Duck to Prem, in the days to come.